"Micromax Informatics Ltd and Karbonn Mobiles came from relative obscurity in India to dominate the world's second-biggest telecommunications market, after China, by the number of handsets sold. But they are stuck in a pricing and features war for Indian buyers of low-cost phones, as Chinese cellphone startups such as Xiaomi Inc, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp 广东欧珀移动通信有限公司 and Gionee Communication Equipment Co 深圳市金立通信设备有限公司 set their sights on Indian consumers who value a product's cost rather than its brand name.

"Cyber Media, based in New Delhi, estimates that Chinese brands have less than a 5% market share right now

"Micromax—which didn't exist six years ago—dethroned Samsung as the best-selling cellphone brand in India in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, a research-and-consulting company based in Hong Kong.